Plant cultivation and carbon dioxide. How and why to use it?

You will surely remember the abbreviation CO2 from chemistry lessons. There are optimal growing conditions. And there are also optimal conditions enriched precisely with carbon dioxide.  Did you know that by adding it to the growing space, for example a grow box, you can easily increase yields by up to 20%?

It has been proven that carbon dioxide is clearly beneficial for plants. And not just a little. With a slight exaggeration, we can say that for plants it is, in a way, a kind of “energy drink”. CO2 therefore supports plant growth and ripening. 

During the day, plants need enough carbon dioxide and at night they need oxygen. There is enough carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to support the growth of plants grown in outdoor conditions. Even so, they can absorb much more through their roots and leaves and make full use of it for their own benefit, and therefore, of course, for the grower’s benefit as well.

A lack of CO2 can be observed especially in indoor gardening. In the vast majority of cases, insufficient ventilation or poor air circulation is to blame. In plants, low CO2 concentration in the air most often shows itself in slow growth, by as much as 30 or 40%.

We recommend remembering the basic rule of cultivation when it comes to deliberately adding carbon dioxide to the air. The more light plants have, the more CO2 they need. Under intensive cultivation beneath artificial lighting, this of course applies doubly. It also follows that with a low carbon dioxide concentration, the efficiency of the lamps used is unnecessarily lower, whether you use high-pressure discharge lamps or modern LED diodes.

Enriching the air in a grow box with CO2 ultimately also ensures better use of fertiliser.

You will reach the desired harvest much sooner, possibly by as much as two weeks compared with a growing cycle that is not accompanied by CO2 supplementation.

Once you increase the carbon dioxide concentration in your home grow room to at least around 500 pmm, growth will speed up by up to 15%. Quite often, however, it can be by a full 20%. The limit concentration is then 1000 pmm. At that level, we can expect growth to accelerate by almost half. However, this limit should not be exceeded. A proper grower must therefore not be greedy when saturating the air with carbon dioxide.

Now you know why we can clearly recommend adding carbon dioxide to every indoor grower, regardless of experience. It is therefore the right time to introduce practical and affordable products that will ensure the air in your grow room is saturated with carbon dioxide. The products in question are available in the form of practical tablets or in a cheaper variant, namely hanging bags for a grow tent.

Popular GURU CO2 tablets stand out thanks to gradual release.

Safety

Do not forget that when handling all products for supplementing CO2 in a grow box, increased caution and responsibility are necessary, as carbon dioxide itself is a colourless, odourless and tasteless gas that normally occurs in the air at normal concentrations. Why is it not directly poisonous to humans? That does not change the fact that it is unbreathable. Before entering a growing space in which equipment for enriching the air with carbon dioxide is used, it is necessary to ventilate thoroughly!

Do you cultivate plants indoors? Whether in soil, coco or hydroponically, now you know that a few tablets or a bag with carbon dioxide are enough and your efforts will bring significantly more fruit. For more information or help choosing specific products, do not hesitate to contact us. Call or write to info@higarden.cz.

- CO2 products